The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-12-15
II they were dreams gliding away from
my aWaknninr senana y

|
| turned on her impationtly.
Get thee gone, ! say he cried angrily.
~ have no time for thee, and he turned
| again 20 his work
Before Rachel could frame her thoughts,
the thud she had heard before was re-
| peated, only this tmeit seemed the fall
Of some small object, perhaps a book.
| Turning in the direction from which the
sound proceeded She saw small child
standing near heap Of sprawling
folios and pushing and tugging at one
Of 4 number OF piles OF books that
had been placed in the neighborhOod
| Of the full book case. The mischief she
was in was evidently quite TO her mind:
| but before she could bring down the next
lot of lettering books Rachel had caught
| her up aud fed down stairs with her
when jubilee was held over her by
| Rachel and Aunt Kitty.
She was a pretty child; n prOffer Of
| Aunt Kitty's porridgc showed her To be a
hungry one; and finally she became
sleepy one. For while Rachel had only
time TO be happy But long after little
Ethel lay asleep in her cradle before the
| fire. aud after Aunt Kitty in her stulfy
room had courted siunber by a last pipe
in bed, Rachel still sat before the fire,
feeding it sparingly from time % time as
| if not expecting 10 need lbs warmth much
| longer. lIouIs, however, went by, auI
| till she did not 20 10 bed. but Instead,
rose every now 8nd then and drawing
| her blanket shawl more closely about her.
crept up the stair, ~ peep through the
/ balustrade AT her bro her who wrote on
| with nervous energy
His mOmentarl kindness had filled her
| With tenderness iowa him. ana as she
watched him she thought how old and
| faded he looked For the first time ~
| her life her attitude toward him had some
thing Of protection n it Was Ae not
working too hard, Would he not make
himself sick. she asked herself but old
habit was strong with her and She al
ways ended her c0giati0us by going down
| tairs again ais silently Hs sine had come
Up. and seating herself by the tire 60 wait
iOr him
Al last she must have slept When she
became conscious the drab lght of win
ter morning was iu the room. and David
vas lying m0tionle~- beside The cradle
with one arm across ii and his head rest
ing on the c0yeret
From that day he was partially para
| lyzed. feeble minded on man whose
hief delight lay ia little Ethel. con.
corning whom be evidently had queer
ideas He told Aunt Kitty some
thing about having hatchcd her cat
Of big egg up in his laboratory,
which made tie old woman Wa- her head
when she CHANGED TO catch EthCls elhsh
YES upon her, and mutter DAT chile
know too muchr ia spite Of RqchelS
forts 10 divert his mind from the fancy
b. chung tenaciously 10 10. and was always
finding resemblance between Ethel and
he birds about the garden, which be- sld
came from her having lain iu "a shell and
he pointed ont that the white down on
her face was relerabie 10 the bird part of
her nature Her fear Of Rachols old
tabby, he also aserred, arose from that
source.
One February morning he found Ethel
standing on chair looking OGt az the
window az the soft suOWlilkes That were
falling and gurgllug conteniedly 20 herself.
what is thee looking nc Ethele' he
! said, hObbiing 10 her Then seeing The
snowbirds hopping about the rose bush
outside the window, lac said eagerly.
| Ethels'
lie brought dis face down coaXngly 90
hers, and the child with AN impulse ol
mischief dung her arms around his neck
and gabbled ia his ear.
Uncle Dave doesn't understand, 80 be
said regretfully. "shali We feed the
birdiesy'
lie soon had the window open and little
Ethel seated on the sill scattering crumbs
about her To her delight the binds. WAX
ing bold, first snatched the crumbs fI0m
her fingers and theu took TO iuuAetlng in
her lap, calling, Peep peep"
peep, peep! cried Ethel in return
DObbing her head from side 10 side IN int
tatiOn Of them. peep, peep. aud shs
iolled back in David arms To laugh tp
in his face
Suddenly her feathercl friends flew OF
"Oh, Dave, " cried Rachel, 'h0w can thee
act sol Ethel VIII take her death Of coll;'
and taking the child in her arms she shut
the window and hurried TO the lire. where
she proceeded to rub the childs blue arms
and legs Later in the day She had recourse
to her stock Of patent medicines, but in
spite Of their yauutcd virtues, and even Of
the hot bath that Aunt Kitty suggested
Ethel grew rapidly worse. until at bed
time the old woman set forth to seek
physician.
David, finding lis playlellow too ill to
care for his attempts 10 amuse her
dragged himself about the house Ike am
uneasy ghost OF sat whimpering by the
fire Rachel thought that he had az last
dozed of, as, with Ethel wrapped in her
blanket shawl, she sat on the opposite
side of the fireplace from him awaiting
Aunt Kitty's return. But the moment
the front door opened be grasped his
stick, and, pulling himself up out Of his
armchair, went into the hall TO meet the
doctor Plucking him by the sleeve he
said earnestly:
Friend, does thee know anything
about the ailments Of BIRDS Otherwise
thy skill ayails thee not here This child
is half bird in her nature
The physician turned his searching eyes
on the ftful face.
Yes, he answered good naturally
You should see my birds al homer
Dayid's face frightened Come, he